Dual purpose bag



United States Patent f 3,160,343 DUAL PURPGSE BAG Bernard Z. Schantzer, 1121 Walnut St., Coatesville, Pa. Filed June 17, 1963, Ser. No. 288,423 4 Claims. (Cl. 229-53) This invention relates to general purpose bags and, in particular to paper bags, or the like designed for two purposes. I a

The gift industry has become big business and so has the gift-wrapping business. More and more people desire that the gift, no matter what its intrinsic value, be so Wrapped or packaged that the initial visual impact be as esthetically pleasing or as striking as possible. In recent years, many department stores have added sep-' arate gift-wrapping departments staffed with personnel trained to do just this sort of work for a price determined chiefly by the type of wrapping paper used and/or the elaborateness of the fastening, i.e., the type and arrangement of the ribbons, etc. A charge is made for this service which is, in many cases, an appreciable fraction of the price of the gift itself. There are, however, a

great many smaller retailers who do not have either established them, separate gift-wrap departments are so overwhelmed at these times that the customer may simply not wishto go through the prolonged waiting period entailed in having'his selection gift-wrapped.

It is therefore among the. objects of this invention to provide:

(1) A novel dual-purpose article carrier which may be used first to carry a package and then to wrap one.

(2) A novel dual-purpose bag which helps merchants to sell gifts successfully even though they do not have a separate gift-wrapping department.

(3) A novel dual-purpose bag which helps merchants in lower-income neighborhoods by aiding in keeping the total amount of each gift sale within the finmcial reach of his customers.

(4) A novel combination bag and gift-wrap assembly which obviates the need for a merchant to hire skilled wrapping personnel and helps to keep down the total gift cost to his customers.

(5) A novel combination bag and gift wrap assembly which alleviates the gift wrapping problem of store-- keepers at heavy peak gift-buying periods.

Still other objects will occur to the reader upon reading this specification in conjunction with the drawings herein. I These objects are accomplished in accordance with my invention by providing a paper bag, or the like, having its interior surface printed, colored or otherwise decorated. This bag has perforations along one or more of its sides through which string, tape, or ribbon is releasably passed. In its assembled state the bag can enclose an article such as a gift in a box. After the purchaser gets home, he can remove the ribbon, etc., open the bag and then use the disassembled bag with its deco rated side as the outer side of the wrapping for the gift. The ribbon itself may be used to tie the wrapped package. FIGURE 1 shows the inner surface of the disassembled dual-purpose bag.

FIGURE 2 shows the bag folded in half, with its edge perforations mutually aligned.

FIGURE 3 shows the bag of FIG. 2 with a'ribbon releasably passed through its perforations.

FIGURE 4 shows how the bag depicted in FIG. 3 can easily be disassembled once again by pulling on the ribbon. e

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view of part of' the bag shown in FIG. 4 taken along the section line 55 in the direction'indicated.

Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown part of a disasse m- I bled paper bag made in accordance with my invention. It has a decorated side 10A and perforations 12 along three of its sides. Midway along its bottom edge are located two slits 16 disposed symmetrically on either side of a central fold line 14. 'As shown in FIG. 1 the novel 2 bag is ready for the next assembly step.

FIGURE 2 shows the bag 10 which has been folded along the line 14 with its decorated side' 10A on the.

inside and its undecorated side 161B on the outside. It

will be noted that all of its perforations 12 and the two slits 16 are now respectively superimposed upon one another and the edges are alined and touching, two

touching edges being a set of edges. At this juncture the bag is ready for the fastening step.

FIGURES is similar to FIG. 2 except that it shows article contained in the bag from getting out through the laced edges, i.e., it is so laced that pressure transverse to the ribbon will not cause. the latterto come loose;

One possible way of lacing the ribbon 20 through the apertures 12 to accomplish these objectives is shown in g Essentially theribbon is passed'through the" aperturesin' a way that produces a chain of interlocking slip-knots laid end-to-end. This is sometimesknown as FIG. 5.

a ,chain stitch and is pictured in United. States Patent #2,978,164, for example. I

It will be seen that on one side of the bag, the' ribbon 20 will have segments 21 which are single straight portions whereas on the opposite side the ribbon 20 will be formed into loops 22. Each of the portions 21 is passed through a given perforation, through a loop formed at the previous perforation and extending therefrom, and

then it is itself formed into a loop which extends up to the next perforation. After it is formed into a loop its free end then is drawn up through the given perforation to become another segment 21. The new segment 21 is passed down through the next perforation and the previous step is repeated. Thus, by pulling'up on the last segment 21, its adjacent loop 22 and all other. loops are V v In practice, the bag as. shown in 3 may be distributed (or sold). to the. patron of the store as the enclosure for a gift (not shown) therein.

position shown in FIG. 1 and then wrap the gift or other object within it with the side 10A facing out.

Of course, the dual-purpose bag need not be rectangular in shape. Any practical shape may be used although parallel-sided regular configurations will probably be used most frequently because they are more easily adapted to wrap boxes having conventional shapes.

Also, in some cases more than two adjacent sets of Patented loss; 8, 1964 When the customer gets home, he will pull oil? the releasable ribbon 28 as shown in FIG. 4, open out the bag proper to the made of a single'piece of ribbon as it may sometimes be preferred to use two or more pieces to avoid undue' stresses on the perforations in the corner junctions of two sets of perforations disposed at right angles to one another.

The holes and ribbon may be provided either by hand or by machine. It is within the conceptrof this invention that amachine insert the ribbon into the sheet without a separate hole-punching operation. While it is highly preferable that. the decorated portion of the bag be the inner surface, it is of course Within the scope of this invention to have the decorated portion on'the outer surface, or on both surfaces. i

Still other modifications and embodiments of my invention are possible which do not depart from the essence thereof. Consequently, I desire 'my invention to be limited and defined, solely by the claims herein.

I claim:

1. A dual-purpose'bag comprising:

(a) abag-like structure made of a folded-over piece of thin, flexible Web-like material, having alined touching edges and a singlerfold line, said foldedover material havingrits interior surface processed for decorative effect, said folded-over material also having along at least two'adjacent sets of aligned touching edges but alongrless than all aligned touching edges thereof a plurality of super-imposed perforations, and

(b) a unitary, flexible elongated means having an'end I and passed through selected ones of said superim posed perforations tov hold said 'sets of edges to gether, said elongated means being arranged to.

permit easy manual disassocia'tion' of said elongated means from said perforations without tearing the materialbetween said perforations, by pulling on said end, to enable said folded-over material to be unfolded. to expose said interior surface,

a first loop. passing back through saidtwo super- V 4 imposed perforations, passing to an adjacent two superimposed perforations, passing through said adjaa cent two superimposed perforations and through said first loop, forming a second-loop, and passing back through said firstloop and said adjacent two superimposed perforations.

2. A dual-purpose bag comprising:

(a) a substantially rectangular folded-over piece of thin, flexible paper-like material having edges and a single fold line, whose inner surface has been processed for decorative effect, said material having a first plurality of perforations arranged along a first set of touching edges opposite and parallel to the fold line and also having only a second plurality of perforations arranged along a second set of touching edges adjacent and perpendicular to said first set,

v I the remaining edges being open and unfastened, and (b) ribbon means passed through said first and second pluralities of perforations to hold said two sets of edges together and being constructed to permit easy manual disengagement of said ribbon means therefrom whereupon said material may be unfolded to expose said interior surface and present a flat sheet of said material having perforations therein only near three edges, suitable for. wrapping an article with said processed surface outside.

' 3. The bag accordingto claim 2 wherein said-ribbon means is a single pieceof ribbon having an end and wherein the latter is laced through said pluralities of perforations in 'a chain stitch, which permits said disengagement without tearing eithe'r said material or said ribbon by pulling, said end.

, 4. The bag accordingto claim 2 wherein two mutually superimposed slits are formed in saidfolded-over piece adjacent said perforations, into which one end of said ribbon may be lodged.

References Cited by the Examiner, UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,978,164 4/61 Williams et al. 2 2'966 

1. A DUAL-PURPOSE BAG COMPRISING: (A) A BAG-LIKE STRUCTURE MADE OF A FOLDED-OVER PIECE OF THIN, FLEXIBLE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL, HAVING ALINED TOUCHING EDGES AND A SINGLE FOLD LINE, SAID FOLDEDOVER MATERIAL HAVING ITS INTERIOR SURFACE PROCESSED FOR DECORATIVE EFFECT, SAID FOLDED-OVER MATERIAL ALSO HAVING ALONG AT LEAST TWO ADJACENT SETS OF ALIGNED TOUCHING EDGES BUT ALONG LESS THAN ALL ALIGNED TOUCHING EDGES THEREOF A PLURALITY OF SUPER-IMPOSED PERFORATIONS, AND (B) A UNITARY, FLEXIBLE ELONGATED MEANS HAVING AN END AND PASSED THROUGH SELECTED ONES OF SAID SUPERIMPOSED PERFORATIONS TO HOLD SAID SETS OF EDGES TOGETHER, SAID ELONGATED MEANS BEING ARRANGED TO PERMIT EASY MANUAL DISASSOCIATION OF SAID ELONGATED 